


The Boy With Freckles Like Constellations In The Night Sky

by got credits (Poly_Grumps)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: AU, Death, F/M, Role Reversal, Role Swap AU, mike & el swap au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-01-30 03:52:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12645543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poly_Grumps/pseuds/got%20credits
Summary: It had been a quiet night in the town of Hawkins Indiana when Will Byers disappeared seemingly out of thin air. Jane Ellie Ives could still recall her last moments with him, the last words she had spoken with him before she watched him bike off into the night. It had started like any other day in fact, with the curly haired girl and her gang of friends all sitting around in her basement gathered around a rather intense game of dungeons and dragons!(Otherwise known as the au where mike and eleven swap places!)





	1. Lost Boys

It had been a quiet night in the town of Hawkins Indiana when Will Byers disappeared seemingly out of thin air. Jane Ellie Ives could still recall her last moments with him, the last words she had spoken with him before she watched him bike off into the night. It had started like any other day in fact, with the curly haired girl and her gang of friends all sitting around in her basement gathered around a rather intense game of dungeons and dragons!

She waved her hands in an attempt to create an almost mystical vibe as she spoke, each of her friends on the edge of their seats. The young boys awaiting whatever monster El was planning to pull on them. “You can feel it, the shadows creeping closer and closer to you, nothing but the sound of your pounding heartbeats filling your ears-”

Suddenly one of her close friends, Will blurted out, “What is it?!”

In response, he was met with a shush by Dustin beside him. “No, what if it’s a Demogorgon?” He snuck glanced between his friends. Both of his big blue eyes were wide in worry. Oh gosh, they would be so fucked if it was one of those things, “We will all get killed if it’s one of those things guys!” He was beginning to ramble about their impending doom.

“It’s not a Demogorgon!” Lucas hissed back, crossing his arms confidently. Why would she play one of those monsters so soon into the game? It’d would be pointless. El was crafty but he would bet bucks on it, she wouldn’t be cruel.

“Oh and an army of Troglodytes storms into the chamber!” She exclaimed, slamming a character piece onto the board. She looked around at the group with a large smirk, though the boys seemed unimpressed. Little did they know, she had another twist up her sleeve. The girl looked around, trying to hide the smirk creeping up on her face, “Oh my.. I think.. I think I hear something else, stomping down the hall..” She tapped her fingers on the table in a rhythmic way to imitate fast-paced trotting. And-“Boom!”

El threw down the familiar piece of a two-headed monster onto their board. “The one and only Demogorgon!” She exclaimed, leaning back in her chair with a small smirk. Her face just screamed,  _ what now boys? _

Everyone groaned faces pressed into their hands, what the hell were they going to do now?

“Will,” El demanded, “Your action!”

All the pressure was on the Byers boy now. He had to make a choice and he had to make it now? Fireball or protection spell? Should he attack head on or rather play it safe? “I-uh-er-” He stuttered, trying to think of his choice. If he were to cast fireball, then he’ll need to roll a thirteen or higher and those were insane odds!

On both sides of him, Dustin and Lucas shouted commands for the two different moves. Offensive or defensive? Head on or fall back? 

Will was tossed out of his thoughts as El’s hands slammed onto the table. “Choose now! The creature is sick of your human bickering! Make a move or die!” she exclaimed loudly, pounding her fists on the table to up the tension.

“Fireball!” He shouted in the middle of the shouting, slamming the dice on the table. The twenty-sided die bouncing right off the table somewhere in the room. Everyone was on edge, the kids all scrambling around to find it. All Will could do was hope and pray it was a thirteen.

They were soon interrupted by the sounds of the door opening and light from the hall flooded over the stairs. “Jane!” Standing on the top of the steps was a tall brunette. Mrs. Ives has always had a kind face and bright hazel eyes, it was obvious El received most of her features from her mother. “It’s late.” She tapped her fingers on the doorway, gesturing towards the wall clock in the hall behind her.

El let out a small whine, not bothering to argue with her mother. There was no point in trying to argue with Terry Ives. She’s learned it the hard way, both of them were as stubborn as a mule. “Mama, we have a campaign-!”

“Jane, I don’t care. You’ll just have to continue your ‘campaign’ tomorrow,” She used air quotes before walking off. Her mother has never understood what her daughter’s fascination with those silly, silly games. People told Terry she had two daughters but she could have almost sworn Jane was just one of the boys.

“Mama!” She called, holding her arms up in frustration. “Just thirty more minutes!” The brunette called in a whine, rushing up the stairs. Didn’t her mother see how important their campaign was to them? She’s been planning this for weeks!

Still, Mrs. Ives put her foot down. “Jane, your friends have to get home. Claudia is going to have a fit if Dustin keeps coming home late, trust me. I don’t want to spend another hour on the phone with her, as lovely as she is,” she started, letting out a sigh. Mrs. Henderson seemed to do nothing but babble and babble on the other end of the line… Shows where her boy got it from. Mrs. Ives couldn’t help but chuckle at the little thought.

“But-but it won’t flow as well if we stop now!” She whined, waving her arms to emphasize her point.

She shook her head, “You all have been spending hours down there in the musty basement, those kids need to get home.” Terry pointed out, waving a fork in her hand as she spoke.

El made a small whine, “But you let Kali stay out all hours of the night!” How come her sister could spend all hours of the night doing god knows what with whoever but El couldn’t have twenty extra minutes to finish a D&D campaign?

“Jane,” She shot her younger daughter a small glare, “Your sister is sixteen years old, we’ve been over this sweetheart. Besides, all she’s doing is spending nights at friends houses to study for a test or something. She’s not spending all day throwing dice and fighting demons.”

“It’s not-no-first of all mama, they are not demons,” El started, so many things wrong with her mother’s sentence. How could her mother just buy into everything Kali said? The younger girl could tell her mother just exactly what she was “ _ doing _ ” at “ _ friend’s houses _ ”. “That’s not fair-”

Terry set down the water she was sipping on, “No Jane, they have to head home and that’s that.” And it was the end of the conversation. No getting leeway with her mother, no matter how much she begged and pleaded.

The younger girl sighed, crossing her arms square over her chest as the three boys rushed upstairs. Dustin ran off in an attempt to give the last few slices to Kali even though El had no idea why he was bothering. She just seemed to be growing more distant and distant as the days went by. Jane would never understand why though, teenagers were weird.

“Hey, sorry,” She called, starting to follow her friends out into the garage as they started to grab their bikes. “I was really trying to get her to budge but you know mama.. She’s just as stubborn as a mule!”

Lucas let out a chuckle as he started to pull his bike up off the ground. “Yeah, I wonder  _ who _ that reminds me of,” He cooed in a teasing tone of voice.

El shot him back a look, looking over as Dustin walked into the garage. He tossed the pizza box in the garbage by the door, shooting a glance back over at her. “Hey, your sister okay? She’s acting all weird man, like all prissy!” He pointed out, starting to pick up his bike. “What happened to her? She used to be pretty cool.”

“She’s on the high horse now because she’s dating a dickbag now, Steve Harrington.” El murmured, shaking her head. She walked over towards the garage door, pressing the button to raise the door. It complied, starting to raise in a rickety squeaking motion. She made a mental note to mention it to her mother. “Don’t worry about it, Kali has always been a real jerk. You’ve just been too busy flirting with her to notice Dustin.”

The toothless boy laughed, covering his mouth with one hand. He wobbled a bit on the bike, trying not to topple over. “Hey, she made the first move!” he argued, starting to pedal off. “Just saying, she used to be cool!”

“She was never cool!” El shouted back, rolling her eyes a bit as Lucas and Dustin started to pedal off into the night.

Will shifted uncomfortably on his bike, looking back over at El for a few moments. “It was a seven.” He blurted out, catching her off guard. “The roll, it was a seven..” The brunette let out a small sigh, “the Demogorgon got me.”

El frowned a bit, silent as Will waved to her. “See ya tomorrow,” he mumbled before shoveling off to get home.

Honestly, she wouldn’t even count the roll.. It would be rude to count it and just let Will be out of the rest of the campaign. It was just unfair, maybe next time he would play it safe and cast protection instead. She looked up, lights flickering for a moment. “Weird,” she mumbled before pressing the button to close the garage. 

With that, she called it a night.

 

Like usual, the group rolled into school on the bikes. El has always loved riding around on her old pastel yellow bike. It had used to be Kali’s old bike, an old tulip colored pink, El repainted when she “inherited it”. Just another  _ amazing _ aspect of having a sister, getting all her old hand me down stuff. Unless it was a birthday or Christmas gift, most of her clothes, toys, and even her bike were Kali’s old stuff.

It was odd though, not seeing Will around. Although El chalked it up to the brunette wanting to get to class as soon as possible. He was always so paranoid about being surprised with a pop quiz or being late and getting in trouble, classic Byers.

Just as she was ready to push into class, the group was stopped by the old bullies James and Troy to be antagonized. Although they chose Dustin to tease this time, she was more than used to their sny comments. El was considered more of a tomboy than the generic boring girls in their school, she only hung out with boys, played games people considered nerdy, liked reading comic books. Why would she want to hang out with the other girls who made fun of her when she could hang out with three boys who made her feel welcomed and played fun games with her!

Either way, today was going to be one hell of a long long day.

 

Standing in nothing more than a dingy hospital gown, a freckled boy stood a few feet away from the back entrance of a local diner. His thick black curls stood out in the light, face dusted in freckles. A wide-eyed look of fear remained on his face, watching the back door intently for a few moments. The boy was starving and had been wandering for a while, just coming across this place.

A few moments ago, he’d watched a man in an apron exit through the door for a moment to throw away some trash. Perhaps he could use it as an entrance? Maybe look for a bite to eat? He made his way towards the back door, creeping into the new area. The room around him was lined wall to wall with shelves holding in packaged and canned good. Those won’t do…

He was hit with the wafting smells of greasy foods and the sounds of a jukebox spitting out upbeat tunes, along with mixed chatter coming from the guests. The freckled boy peeked around the corner for a moment before pushing on through a large pair of double doors into a kitchen area. The equipment was next to foreign to him, but the boy pressed on, stopping at a basket of fries sitting on a counter.

Hesitantly picked one up and inspected it for a moment. He popped it in his mouth, the salty flavor a nice one. It wasn’t long before the starving boy was scarfing down handfuls of the fries into his mouth. His entire body tensed up at the sounds of someone shouting at him. He gazed up, freezing completely as he met eyes with a tall bearded man, “Hey!”

Scooping up the basket in his hands, he attempted to make a break for it and push past the double doors. He swung a right, swinging open the back door when he felt a firm hand on his shoulder. He was yanked around to face the other man, dropping the basket of fries. It hit the floor with a small clank and the panting boy was met with an angry than confused face staring at him, “What the hell..”

 

Science class felt like an eternity and still, no signs of Will whatsoever. El was starting to get a little worried about him, where the hell was he? Although she was pulled out of her thoughts at the sounds of the bell echoing throughout the classroom. Mr. Clark was explaining something about the chapters they’d have to read tonight, no issue to her since she’s already read them, but what she was really excited for was  Heathkit ham shack he had gotten! It was going to make AV club even better!

Although as they had just started to mess around with the beaut when the principal and chief Hopper came to question the kids. Now here the three of them were all sitting on the uncomfortable couch in the principal’s office, chattering over each other.

“-no, no, no, it’s more like-”

“-we saw him last night-”

“-do you think he’s okay?-”

“-why are you here? Where is Will?-”

Hopper let out a small sigh, running a few fingers through his light brown locks. He held up one hand to tell them to stop. They weren’t going to get anywhere if they kept babbling over each other. “Stop, all of you stop.” He held his hand up, trying to gather all of the details. “One of you at a time,” the cop pointed towards El. “How does he get home?”

“Mirkwood,” she answered, as if it was obvious. “It’s from Lord of The Rings-”

Dustin was quick to interject, “Well, The Hobbit.”

“Why the hell does it matter?” Lucas glanced at the other, the two of them immediately dipping into another argument. Then El, of course, had to jump in to get them to shut up, they have to get their story straight in case Will is in real danger or something.. 

“Either way, we can show you-”

“No.” Hopper was quick to interject, holding his hands up. As much as the group wanted to help find Will, it was a no. They were to all rush home after school, they couldn’t have more kids disappearing. It would only raise panic. There would be no goonies type of group searching around for the Byers kid, it would only complicate things.

While the chief's demands rang in her mind, El could only think of doing the exact opposite, finding Will.

 

The sounds of meat sizzling on the grill and smells of a meat cooking hit the boy sitting patiently in the booth. He was starving and the savory aroma of the burger wasn’t helping his hunger. Every minute or so he would fidget with the oversized corn yellow shirt he was given to throw on instead of the old hospital gown. It was certainly warmer and it helped him relax a little more. 

After a few more minutes, he was brought a basket with a warm burger sitting in the middle. Immediately, he started to scarf down the food, eating like a kid who hasn’t had food in weeks. The freckled boy paid no mind to the diner owner as he sat down across from him, watching him shovel food into his mouth.

There was sympathy on his face this time around for the lost boy, arms folded tight across his chest. Has the kid eaten at all today? Or yesterday for that matter? “Should have made you two huh kid?” Benny broke the silence, although the kid didn’t bother him a second glance. He was probably a runaway..“Your folks.. Hurt you?”

Kid probably went to a hospital too, ran off shortly afterward.. “Kid, you’ve got to talk to me,” He spoke up, getting rather tired of the lack of answers from the kid. He didn’t even know his name.. “Hey,” Benny spoke up, taking the food from the other. He pulled it away from him, a pair of confused caramel colored eyes staring back at him. “Listen up, you’ve got to answer a few questions.. Then you can have all the food you want. How about that?”

In return, all he got was another stare but he had the kid’s attention. Okay, great, they should just start slow. He extended his hand, a faint smile on his face, “Alright kid, I’m Benny, Benny Hammond,” He held his hand out in a shake motion, expecting the kid to shake back. When he didn’t, he reached out and met his hand, shaking it with a gentle but firm grip. “Here we go, nice to meet ya.. and you are?”

The kid’s gaze dropped to the table, his hand gently released.

Benny let out a sigh, gaze drifting towards where the kid was looking. He tilted his head a bit, spotting a marking on the kid’s pale forearm. The bearded man reached out to turn over the kid’s hand, making out a number eleven and two initials: M.W. “What do those mean?” He asked, the boy quickly yanking his arm away.

More silence passed between them before one word came out of the boy, “No.”

It actually managed to catch Benny off guard. He was starting to wonder if the kid actually understood him or not. “Well, well, well, he does speak.” He mumbled, shaking his head a bit. “No what?” Once again, no response. 

“Well then, I guess that means no food for you,” Benny started to get back up. If the kid wasn’t going to talk, than he wasn’t getting any free food-

“M-Mike.” he blurted out, clearing his throat for a moment. He tapped his chest, trying to hint that was his name. It's what they called him at least… “Mike, number eleven.” The freckled boy repeated, staring down at the table.

A small chuckle escaped the other as he set the burger back down on the table, offering it to “Mike”. Kid’s earned it, he promised him after all. “If you’re still hungry, I might have some ice cream you can have too,” Benny spoke up, starting to get up and make his way over to the phone.

Mike wasn’t sure what the nice cook went off to do but he was much more focused on the food. It was rather good! He went right to scarfing down the burger, being given much warmer fries than before. He reached over, picking up the bright red bottle on the table, starting to coat a fry in the interesting sauce. Mike popped a few more fries in his gaze turned to the loud rattling fan. He narrowed his eyes for a moment, staring down the fan as the blades were slowly forced shut with an ear-grating little squeak.

A small smile of satisfaction graced his face and Mike continued to coat the fries in ketchup.

 

Dinner was silent, awkward even. Sitting around the table consisted of the rather frustrated worried El, her stubborn mother, and her abnormally quiet sister. Kali was trying to play the innocent angel card right now, she was going to ask their mother for something, the younger girl was sure of it. Dare she say that she could sense it...

Either way, El picked uncomfortably at her mushy lukewarm meatloaf, a frown settled onto her face. Right about now, she should be out there helping Will. They should be out looking for him, not pretending everything was okay as she shoveled mushy peas in her mouth, “Mom,” the brunette started.

“No.” Terry quickly shot her down, as if she could read her daughter’s mind.

El made a few frustrated noises, stabbing into her meal with a frown forming on her lips. “He could be in danger-” she started once again, only to be shut down by her mother once again. She started waving her hands a bit as she tried to gather where to start her argument. “The chief doesn’t know what he’s talking about, we should help-”

“Jane, you and your friends will only get hurt if there is a real danger out there.. You are going to stay put, there will be no ands or buts about it.” The brunette shut down the conversation then and there. Like usual, her mother seemed to be the end all and say all of every topic. It wasn’t fair!

Another beat of silence passed between the three before Terry cleared her throat and gestured to Kali. “How’s that project in science going sweetheart?” 

El struggled with opening her mouth right then and there. How on earth could her mother want to talk about some project while one of her best friends was missing right about now!? She held her tongue, staring down at her food as her sister spoke up.

“Actually, I’m glad you brought that up mom,” Kali started, looking up from her plate. “I was actually going to study at Barb’s house, that’s fine with you right?”

“Well, actually, it’s not fine.” Their mother sighed, looking up at her daughters, “Is it crazy that I don’t want you to just go off in all hours of the night? You two are on lockdown until we know if the Byers boy is okay.”

“What the hell?!” Kali shot back, opening her mouth a bit in frustration, “Suddenly we’re under house arrest because El’s stupid friend got lost in the woods?!”

The younger girl slammed her hand on the table, shooting a harsh glare towards Kali’s direction. “Suddenly this is Will’s fault?! It’s not his fault you can’t hang out with big shot Steve right now!” She shot back, clenching her fork tighter.

Kali’s eyes widened, her whole body tensing. If she could make it happen, a look like that could make someone burst into flames.

“Who is Steve?” Terry tilted her head a bit.

“Oh he’s her new  _ boyfriend _ ,” El cooed back the last bit, shooting a smirk back at her sister.

Kali waved her hands a bit, more frustrated words bubbling up in the back of her throat. “God! You are such a little shit!” She snapped back, shooting up from her chair with a loud thud. The raven haired girl made a childish noise of anger before storming off upstairs. There was a loud boom under each stair as she stomped up to her room.

Her mother sighed, starting to get up to talk to her older daughter. Times like this, she wished she had someone here to help her manage these two children. Terry could swear they were giving her grey hairs. “Kali! Kal! Come back here!” Her attention turned back to El before she went upstairs, “You and I are going to have a chat later.”

“A-A chat-? About what-” El stuttered to find her words, pressing her hands to her face with a loud groan. How was she the only person in the world that seemed to care about Will?!

She didn’t care who told her not to, not her mother and certainly not whatever the hell Hopper had to say. The young girl was the first to get her friends on the line to go out and find him. It didn’t take much persuasion to get both of her friends on their bikes and on their way out towards the woods. Although El saw Steve attempting to climb into her sister’s window, she just shook her head and pushed on. Kali wasn’t her responsibility..

 

Mike kicked his legs, spooning another bite of the cold treat into his mouth. Benny sprayed off dish after dish, taking a moment to glance over at Mike every so often. “You like the ice cream?” he spoke up after a bit, the kid flashing him a slight smile in response. It was nice seeing the quiet boy actually look sort of happy. 

He was pulled out of the moment, body tensing at the sounds of knocking on the door. 

“Hey, hey, relax,” Benny quickly assured him when he spotted out nervous Mike looked. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell them to leave. Stay here and keep your ice cream company.”

The freckled boy continued to kick his feet, the sounds of distant talking in the background leaving him on edge. He spooned another bite of the sweet ice cream into his mouth as he watched the exchange out of the corner of his eye. His nerves started to calm, watching the calm conversation between Benny and the blonde woman. Maybe she was friendly-

His blood ran cold, the sound of a shot ringing through the air. Mike’s breathing picked up, pushing through the back doors of the kitchen. He rushed towards the back exit, eyes widening as two armed men stepped through the door. His heart was racing, pounding loudly in his ears. More footsteps echoed behind him, he had to move, now.

Both men hit the floor with a thud, and he took off running into the night. Where, he was unclear on that currently. Anywhere but there was the ideal option.

All he did was run, legs aching as he pressed on though trees and twigs. Rain picked up from a light drizzle to a downpour within minutes but he never stopped. Mike didn’t stop even when his body felt close to collapsing under him, right there onto the woods floor.

He was panting and trembling as three figures started to become clear in the rain. They snapped around and like a deer in headlights, he stopped dead cold, a beam of light pointed at him. While he could barely see them, El could make out this boy who most certainly wasn’t Will standing there in the rain across from her. He stood there, chest rising and falling with his loud panting, his dark black soaked curls matted to his face, freckled face warm with a worried expression painted on it.

It was all a shock really. While she had come out there looking for her friend Will Byers, El rather found a strange lost boy standing there in a soaking wet tee-shirt. While a million questions ate at her mind, she had one rather big one right now, who was this boy?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah, thank you so much for reading! this is something I've wanted to type up for a while! this is a little au that i suggested on my tumblr a while ago! after someone suggested that i write up a fanfic, i finally got the motivation to start this fanfic (and sort of go back and forth between posting this & my other current fic).
> 
> anyways, just in case anyone was wondering, El and mike basically swap places. i also changed a few things as well for it. basically the wheeler family and the ives family (including kali) swap roles. it's the plot of stranger things but i have some hopes to change some things, add some ideas i was talking to a friend about. mike and el will hook up, just like in stranger things.
> 
> this is really just going to go episode by episode as the chapters, and yeah i plan on going into season two if i keep the motivation to keep writing this. i will try to if you guys also like this.. i mostly just want to get back into writing and am taking any opportunity to keep up with writing :3
> 
> sorry if this just felt like a recap, i tried to make this more detailed and different (i plan on changing stuff for the future chapters if im not too burnt out). btw i don't plan on rewriting every scene in the show, mostly just the scenes that have el and or mike (but like idk it depends on my mood)
> 
> anyways, thank you for reading!


	2. Placing Trust and Making Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rain poured down on the Ives home as three kids babbled questions to the soaking wet boy. He stared wide-eyed, barely able to process all of the questions being spit out at him. It was almost like an interrogation.. Being kind, El gave up her coat for him, hoping it would help him warm up. Frankly, the boy looked terrified as if she’d kill him any minute.
> 
> El cleared her throat, kneeling down a bit to be eye level with the boy on her couch. Her dark brown eyes met with his scared caramel ones, trying to help keep the raven-haired boy relaxed. “Hey, is there a number we can call for your parents? Are you lost?” Her tone of voice was soothing, gentle as to not scare him.
> 
> (Mike is taken to El's home after finding him out in the rain)

Rain poured down on the Ives home as three kids babbled questions to the soaking wet boy. He stared wide-eyed, barely able to process all of the questions being spit out at him. It was almost like an interrogation.. Being kind, El gave up her coat for him, hoping it would help him warm up. Frankly, the boy looked terrified as if she’d kill him any minute.

El cleared her throat, kneeling down a bit to be eye level with the boy on her couch. Her dark brown eyes met with his scared caramel ones, trying to help keep the raven-haired boy relaxed. “Hey, is there a number we can call for your parents? Are you lost?” Her tone of voice was soothing, gentle as to not scare him.

“Did you run away?” Lucas blurted out.

Dustin was quick to follow up with more pressing questions, “Do you know English? Are you deaf?” He prodded him with questions, tilting his head a bit. The kid’s interests were peaked by the strange boy. 

They continued to prod him with questions of all kind, the panting boy only staring at them. Mike could barely form the words for a response, sinking further into the couch. “Wait a minute, is that blood?” Lucas pointed out, attempting to touch the crimson stain on Mike’s shirt.

The young girl quickly slapped Lucas’ hand away, a hard glare on her face. “Hey! You’re scaring him!”

“He’s scaring me!” the other argued, waving his arms in emphasis.

“Maybe he’s deaf or something,” Dustin mumbled, pleased with his theory. He quickly clapped both of his hands in Mike’s face, frowning slightly as the other jumped suddenly. His theory sunk like a ship right then and there.

“Hey, stop it!” She nudged both of the boys and cleared her throat. “You two are going to freak him out..!” El argued, not wanting to scare Mike even more than he already was.

She offered him a gentle smile, deciding it would be best if they help clean him up. Maybe he’ll feel calmer if he was in some warm clothes. Besides, the poor boy was shaking like a leaf, water droplets dripping down his freckled face. His dark black curls clung to his face in wet strands. “Oh!” El stepped aside, towards a lavender laundry basket. She fished out a simple shirt and a pair of black shorts for him to wear for now. “Here, you don’t have to sit around in that shirt anymore!” She offered.

Mike hesitantly accepted the warm articles of clothing, momentarily hugging the warm cloth to his cold face. He didn’t say anything, standing up from the couch. He slid off her coat, starting to pull the shirt off over his head without any care that three kids were standing right in front of him.

“Oh my god-” El covered her face with both of her hands, face flushing a bright red while Dustin and Lucas stopped Mike from stripping in front of them. She could not believe this was happening, did he just try to strip in front of her?

“H-hey, bathroom! There’s a bathroom o-over there,” the young girl pointed out, hands pressed firmly over her face. “Bathroom? Get it?” She repeated, a million questions rushing through her head..

“Privacy man, you get that?” Lucas asked, sounding out every word in hopes of the strange boy understanding them. Both of the boys nudged him over to the bathroom, Mike just looking puzzled.

Just as Dustin was about to shut the door, the freckled boy grabbed it and shook his head.

“W-what? You want it open?” Lucas asked in disbelief.

“No.” The freckled boy spoke up, staring back at both of the nervous boys. Mike stayed firm, gripping the door with his free hand.

Lucas opened his mouth to argue but El quickly jumped into the conversation, “Hey, how about we just crack it?” She suggested, closing the door enough to give him privacy but to compromise with Mike. “Here, how about that? Is that better?”

Slowly, he nodded. “Okay..” He turned away, starting to change into the clean clothes. They were much softer and warmer than the soaking tee-shirt. Mike tossed the cold shirt into the sink, momentarily inspecting himself in the mirror. He’s okay, he’s.. He’s okay.

“Holy shit, he’s mental!” Dustin blurted out in a whisper. He made a gesture of how Mike just tried to fling off his shirt moments ago. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates, looking back between El and Lucas.

El could already feel her face warming up as he relieved the memory from minutes ago. “C-calm down, he’s just.. Different, and-and a little lost.” she swallowed thickly, trying to defend Mike. “At least she can talk!”

“I’ve met toddlers who speak more than that!” Lucas shot right back, crossing his arms. How could she be falling for this crap? That guy was.. Weird. “All he said was no and okay, that was far from a speech El!”

“Guys, he was about to get naked in front of us,” Dustin pointed out, making the gesture once again to prove his point. As he did, his hat slid off over his head back onto the floor. While Lucas started to formulate theories, he kneeled down to scoop the cap off the floor.

“I think he’s messed up in the head,” Lucas spoke in a hushed whisper, in case Mike was listening and wanted to suddenly turn on them.. Maybe cut them all up into little pieces and wear their faces as masks! “You know, I bet he’s running from home or something after cutting up his entire family.. Or-or maybe he escaped from the nuthouse in Kerly county..”

El rolled her eyes hard enough she could feel it, “If anyone is insane, you are-”

“No, actually, think about it! He’s all spacey and weird, like he’s.. Done something that he shouldn’t have? You know what I mean?” He waved his hand, looking back at the two with wide eyes. Why couldn’t El see how insane this was? Bringing some strange boy into her house?

Dustin made a loud gasp noise, pressing his hands over his mouth. “Like Michael Myers?”

“Lucas, Dustin, shut up,” El she shut down the conversation before it could get out of hands. “Don’t be dicks! We couldn’t have just left him out there, he could have froze to death in that storm! Are you saying you would have left him out there?”

The other boy nodded, shooting her a look right back. “We’re looking for Will! Not some weirdo!”

“I.. I think we should tell your mom El,” Dustin spoke up, looking over at the brunette.

“Are you insane!” She raised her voice at the two, waving her arms a bit. “None of us we’re supposed to be out there, remember? We will all be in the dog house if my mother finds out we snuck out tonight..!”

The lisping boy made a ‘dun dun dun’ noise to emphasize her point, and El was once again reminded that Dustin was basically her sound effects guy, biting down on his bottom lip afterwards. “Our parents would never let us see the light of day..”

“We’d never find Will..” Lucas added, defeat in his voice.

She nodded, clearing her throat. New plan time, “Okay, how about he stays the night here?” El started, sneaking a glance back at the bathroom door, wondering how the freckled boy was doing in there. “When morning comes, he sneaks around the house to the front door, rings the doorbell, my mom will answer the door, and she’ll handle it. She’ll call whatever, send him off to wherever he belongs..” She offered the two a weak smile, “and we’ll be in the clear. Then we’ll get right back to looking for Will.”

It’ll be simple, El will get rid of his kid by tomorrow morning and they’ll get right on back to looking for Will! It’ll all work out, she was sure of it.

The young girl turned her attention towards a little area of the basement, deciding that he should make Mike a little place to sleep. It’d be much better than making him simply sleep on the floor. She gathered a few sheets, folding a few blankets to form a little bedding underneath a large work table that’s been down here for ages. El was sure it used to be her father’s but her mother didn’t speak much of him.. The bench has never been cleaned out, left to catch dust.. Surely Mrs. Ives won’t mind if El just uses it to make a little blanket fort?

El let out a small sigh of relief, hearing the footsteps of both Dustin and Lucas’s bounding up the stairs. She looked over from her little fort area, hearing the quiet footsteps behind her, Mike standing outside of the bathroom dressed in the new clothes. “Hey, you’re looking a lot warmer now!” She spoke up optimistically.

Mike only nodded, staring down at his feet with a little smile.

“Oh!” She hopped up to her feet, rushing over to pick up a dark blue sleeping bag from the corner of the room. “Here, I thought you could use my sleeping bag? Just in case the blankets aren’t enough?” She suggested, watching Mike sit down on top of a few of the blankets.

He took it for a moment, starting to set up the sleeping bag, looking back over at El when she spoke up.

She cleared her throat, a little smile spreading across her face. “So uh… I realized that I don’t know your name,” El prompted in hopes of getting Mike to speak up. A little part of her wanted to prove to Dustin and Lucas that Mike wasn’t just some weird freak..

“It’s Mike,” he said simply.

“Hm?” She raised a brow, tilting her head to the side a bit.

The young boy turned his pale arm over, biting down on his bottom lip. Mike avoided meeting eyes with her, once again showing her the dark tattoo on his arm. He pointed towards the number and then the M.W. “Michael..” he told her, patting his chest.

“Whoa!” El exclaimed, eyes lightening up as she caught sight of the markings on his wrist. “Is that actually a real tattoo? I think my mom might actually have one of those, like on her ankle or something! I thought it was a flower..” she trailed off, trying to recall what the colorful symbol is inked on her mother’s ankle.

“Flower?” He asked, quirking a brow at her little rambling.

El let out a little giggle, catching herself there. “Oh, sorry, I have never seen a kid with a tattoo.. And I’ve always been quite the rambler, I talk way too much-” She shook her head a bit, catching herself there. “Did you say your name was Michael?”

Mike nodded at her.

“Oh! Cool!” She replied, clapping her hands together a bit. There’s some progress! “My name is Jane Ellie Ives.. But everyone calls me El! Like for short, to make things more simple.” She explained, “How about.. We call you Mike for short?” El suggested.

Once again, he nodded back at her suggestion. He was rather used to being called Mike instead of Michael anyways. They had only used Michael back home when they were mad or upset with him back at.. At his old “home”.

She nodded in return, trying to gather her bearings. “Well, alright,” she smiled a bit, “You should get to bed.. Goodnight Mike.” 

El stood up, starting to tug the blanket down to over the fort to help cover up Mike. She didn’t want her mother or Kali wandering downstairs to see some random boy curled up in the basement. Before she pulled the blanket down, she heard a quiet little “Goodnight El,” and she couldn’t help the little smile spreading across her face.

She didn’t say anything, pacing over towards the stairs before she shut off the lights.

Mike laid down on the sheets, staring absentmindedly at the blankets hanging over them. Behind him, a high up window casted a faint light. Little light seeped through the crack of the tool bench pushed up against the wall. Every moment or so, thunder would cackle and light would dance across the window. Mike would shudder, struggling with a few quiet tears.

How did he end up out here? Where was he going to go? A million questions ate at him as he tried to drift off to sleep.

 

Breakfast was quiet, the smells of toaster waffles and fresh orange juice wafting through the room. Kali picked at the sad bacon and eggs, shooting a glare back over at her sister. It was obvious there was still discourse between the two siblings, making their family breakfast give off a rather awkward vibe. The older girl let out an annoyed scoff to break the silence, watching her sister scarf down a second waffle. “Jane, you’re going to choke if you keep shoving your face like that.”

The younger girl narrowed her eyes at her food for a moment. Kali really had big britches trying to act all high and mighty, miss angel.. Especially after El saw Steve trying to sneak into her house, she was old enough to connect the dots about what he was going there. “Oh, weren’t you shoving something your mouth last night?” El shot back, smirk gracing her face.

This little brat..

“Actually,” Kali kicked her chair rather harshly, “I was studying.”

“Oh really? You sure have a rather loud way of studying.” She shot back, delivering another kick to Kali’s chair in return.

Terry cleared her throat, quirking a brow, “Hey, both of you! What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” They both shot back, returning to their breakfast.

 

Mike had woken up rather early in the morning, sitting cross legged on the blankets. He reached out, plucking an oversized radio like device off the floor. He fidgeted with the knobs and buttons, trying to see what it was used for. He quirked a brow, being met with loud static from it. He peeked up, looking confused when he saw the blankets being pulled up. Thankfully it was just El smiling back at him.

“Oh, hey, you’ve got my supercomm!” she spoke up, hoping to start a little conversation.

Once again, no response.

“Well me and my friends all talk to each other with them,” El explained, pointing to a few of the knobs to show him sort of how it worked. “It’s really cool but the signal is really weak, I can mostly talk to Lucas with it.. Dustin always blinks in and out on it because his radio sucks, and it’s basically impossible to talk to Will on it.”

Mike only stared at her, still opting not to speak more.

“Oh, here!” she dug her hand into the pocket of her dark blue jacket. “I got you some breakfast,” El pulled out two toaster waffles she snagged from breakfast. As he took the waffles, she started to ramble once again. She wasn’t sure why she continued to babble to him, maybe it was to make up for the lack of conversation with Mike.“I know they are just some lukewarm toaster waffles but I think they’re pretty good, they’re called eggos.”

She watched him start to munch on the room temp eggo, remembering the matter at hand. The girl had promised to get rid of Mike and get back on the search for Will.. “Anyways,” El cleared her throat, catching Mike’s attention. “This might sound weird but I need you to do me a favor, can you go upstairs through the back door and walk to the front of the house, ring the doorbell and my mom will open the door, tell her that you’re lost. She can get you help-”

“No.”

El was rather caught off guard by Mike’s sudden words. It only made her grow more confused about this mysterious boy and who he was. Did he not want help? Was he in trouble? “Wha.. What do you mean no?”

Again, he shook his head.

“You don’t want help?” She pushed back a few of her messy brown curls as she tried to connect the dots. What kind of trouble was Mike in? “Mike I… What kind of trouble are you in?”

His caramel colored eyes stared down at his hands, entire body tensing up, “Bad.. Bad trouble.”

The fear between the two of them was mutual, both children tense. “Bad..?” she asked, swallowing thickly. It wasn’t hard to make out the worry in her tone of voice. “Bad people?” El asked, furrowing her brow. “Do they want to hurt you?”

He met eyes with her, creating a gun out of his pointer and middle finger. Mike held it up to his forehead and made a little “bang” noise. The freckled boy then pointed it at El’s face, once again making the little noise. It was simple but it got the point across. Mike couldn’t risk her getting hurt.

Before El could say much more, the sounds of her mother shouting for her to hurry up and get to school. “Oh, shoot,” she fumbled to pull the blanket back over Mike, “stay here, okay? Only come out if you hear me, I’ll be back real soon!”

Mike let out a final sigh, staring back down at the radio in his hands, “okay.”

 

School was the last place El wanted to be right now, she knew what it would be. Most likely, Dustin and Lucas would be wondering where she is and if she knew her sister well enough, she would be spending her day with Steve douchebag Harrington and his group of bland dumbasses. El wished Kali would get her things together and learn she could do better than those jerks..

Either way, she stashed her Bike in the bushes as she waited for her mom’s familiar car to pass by the house on her way to run errands. Once she spotted her drive past, El hopped back on her bike and rode her way back towards her house. She slipped in through the garage, stashing her bike before rushing downstairs to get Mike.

“Well, here’s the grand tour,” the curly haired girl had joked, holding her arms out as she guided Mike up the stairs into the home. “Hey, you want something to eat? Something else to drink? We have all sorts of stuff in the kitchen, orange juice, apple juice, milk, water,” El started to list things on her fingers, watching Mike walk towards the kitchen.

He tilted his head a bit, picking up a box of eggos. “Eggos…” Mike murmured, quirking a brow a bit. That’s an odd name for a food.. He started to tug the bag out of the box, wanting to snack on another waffle.

El looked over at him, smiling a bit, “You want another eggo? I can cook you one..” She trailed off, watching the freckled boy take a bite out of a cold waffle. Little giggles bubbled up, the young girl covering her mouth as she tried not to laugh at Mike. She didn’t want to make her feel bad or something just for being a little silly.

Mike looked back over at her, quirking a brow as he munched on the cold waffle. What was so funny? He was rather confused as to what was so funny about his breakfast. Really, it wasn’t so bad, he liked the eggo. “What?” he asked, watching El shake her head in response.

“Don’t, don’t worry about it Mike,” she replied, waving her hand a bit. El picked up the bag of waffles and turned towards the toaster to slide two of the frozen waffles into it. “Would you like to try a cooked one too?” she asked, moving towards the fridge to put away the rest of the waffles. After sliding them away into the freezer half of the fridge, she pulled the carton of orange juice out of it.

“Okay.” He replied quietly at her question. 

El plucked two glasses out of the cabinet, picking at random. The young girl had ended up picking a “collector’s edition” garfield glass her mother claimed would be worth a lot some day, which El heavily doubted, and a worn down blue plastic cup. El opted to give Mike the plastic cup to hold his juice, just in case he dropped it or something.

Once the toaster dinged, she plucked the waffles from it and set them both onto plates. “Here,” she set their cups and plates down, pointing towards leftover butter and syrup from their earlier breakfast, “I figured you might want to put some butter or syrup on your waffle this time?”

Of course, like El suspected, Mike just decided to take a bite out of the warm waffle. She was starting to find it more and more endearing to watch him do silly things. She wasn’t sure where the “bad people” were from or where Mike had escaped from, but he wasn’t like a normal kid..

After their little second breakfast, they had gone into the living room, which had consisted mostly of El watching Mike slurp on orange juice and munch on his waffle while she tried to make small talk. Maybe one time or another, she could have a real conversation with the raven-haired boy.. If he’d just start to warm up to her more.

“And this is the living room..” she trailed off, the brunette looked up as she spotted Mike taking an interest in the large boxy television in the center of the living room. “That’s a TV you know,”

He looked over, raising a brow as she told him what it was. Mike tilted his head a bit, pointing over at the box. “I think my mom told me it was a 22 inch, I don’t know, I asked Lucas and he acted like I wouldn’t understand,” El spoke up, rolling her eyes afterwards, “But it’s way better than his, Dustin said so, Lucas is just jealous.” Just about all the time, El was just another one of the guys..

She looked back up, watching Mike’s gaze drift towards the family photos sitting on the mantle of the fireplace. Each nice frame supported a different photo resting in a nice silver or golden frame. It was easy to make out who was who in the large family photos of El, Kali, and her mother but then there were other photos of either girl as a baby or toddler, and then the very last one was a tall brunette woman standing with a tall older looking man holding her close.

“Those uh… are our family photos,” El spoke up, pointing at one of the family photos, “That one is me,” she pointed towards the youngest girl with a shaved head. “I actually got gum in my hair right before this photo was taken and we had to cut it all off, my mom looked like she was going to blow a gasket.. But we had to take the photo anyway, she already made the appointment and they wouldn’t give her a refund” She let out a little laugh at the memory, pointing next at a taller girl with long dark hair, “That’s Kali, my older sister.. She’s sort of lame, well, she used to be cool and then she got lame,” She crossed her arms with a little huff.

“Pretty..” Mike murmured, moving on to the rest of the photos.

“Eh, not really.” The annoyed girl shrugged it off and then pointed out her mother before she turned to the last photo of the man. “And uh… that guy is my father,” El grew quiet, fumbling with her fingers. “I’ve actually never met my dad.. My mom doesn’t talk about him much and Kali is too stubborn to talk about him.”

Mike nodded a bit at her, he didn’t really know his mother much like El didn’t know her father. He knew a man who acted like his father but he had found himself trusting him less and less over the years… It was probably one of the biggest reasons Mike escaped in the first place, he had just kept pushing and pushing, he had needed the freedom.

For a few moments, silence passed between the two of them.. It was awkward, the tension rather thick. While Mike focused on the very last photo, El worried she ruined the moment between them. Once a few more moments passed, she cleared her throat to catch his attention. “Hey, how about we head up to my room? I might have some games we can play, those might be fun..”

He glanced back at her, nodding a bit as he let her guide him upstairs the home into her room. It was a medium sized room with a baby blue paint job and hard wood floors. Pressed up against the wall there was a twin sized bed, sporting grass green and deep blues sheets. Across the room was an oak wood desk, sporting many different toys and photographs. Mike could also spot a bookshelf covered in different comic books, novels, and even a few different action figures lining the shelves.

“This is my room!” El exclaimed, plucking a toy off of the shelf, “See, this is my cool Yoda figurine,” She had begun to ramble about a few of the figures and toys she had, hoping something would impress Mike. “He moves stuff with his mind you see, they call it the force! It’s really cool, Dustin told me all about the movie even before I went to see it.”

El shook her head a bit, picking up a board game off her desk, “and this game is called connect four, my sister and I used to play it all the time,” she went off, picking up different things to excitedly show Mike, she had hardly noticed the boy went off and kneeled over her desk to inspect the photos on it. His attention particularly drifted towards the one of the group all holding up a shining golden trophy, each kid sporting a large grin.

“Oh,” She looked over, setting one of her toys aside as she paced over towards the photo Mike was looking at. “That’s from the science fair, Lucas has some of the trophies at his house, usually the guys and I do something together..” she trailed off, looking down at the desk for a moment. El has always been teased for hanging out with a bunch of boys and her tom boy like behavior. She was never girly and all dainty like Kali or the other girls at school..

“We uh, got third that year,” she spoke back up again, pointing back at the photo, “Mr Clark said it was totally political though!”

Mike focused on the photograph, eyes widening and his mouth opening slightly as he focused on Will. A shaking hand reached out towards the brunette, resting his finger on the photo.

“Y-you know Will?” She blurted out suddenly, El’s eyes widening. Ha, she knew Mike was more than just some crazy freak or something who got lost in the woods! He might be able to help them find Will! “Where? Where did you see him? Did you see him out in the woods? Last night?”

Before he could spit out an answer of some sort, the sounds of gravel moving in the driveway and a car parking up front caused both children to swing around. “Oh shoot!” El spoke up, rushing towards the window. Her eyes were just about size of saucers as she spotted her mother’s familiar van pulling up in the driveway.

“Sh-” she glanced over at Mike, her eyes wide, “we-we have leave-!” El grabbed his hand, squeezing it for a moment as she tried to tug him downstairs. Mike was stiff but followed her down the steps. Her heart practically stopped, spotting her mother carrying groceries in both arms as she stepped through the door.

El grabbed Mike’s hand once again, tugging him back upstairs. Her heart raced, hands shaking at the thought of her mother finding out about Mike.

The sounds of footsteps caught her mother’s attention, the confused woman turning towards the stairs. “El…?” she called, confused as to who would be home at this time… “Is that you up there?”

“Uh, yeah, I actually didn’t feel very good mom!” She called, rushing to push Mike into her room. Fuckfuckfuck, she needed some sort of way to hide him and fast. Her eyes scanned the room, immediately settling for the closet. El nudged him over towards the open closet, holding it open for Mike, “I-uh, I need you to get in here Mike, please-otherwise my mom will find you!”

The boy stared at her, the hesitation in his dark eyes obvious. “I..” he could barely form the words, having no desire to climb into that little death trap.

“Please, I promise I won’t tell her about you, but you have to just trust me and get in here-!” El begged, knowing they were running out of time every second she argued with Mike. 

Mike furrowed a brow, “Trust..?” he asked, quirking a brow.

“Yeah-yeah, trust!” The girl gestured her hand towards the closet. “Trust is something people do to each other, it’s like.. You know that you can depend on that person anytime and vice versa,” El explained quickly, “and a promise is something you cannot break, so I  _ promise _ I will come back! You can  _ trust _ me!” She put quick emphasis on the word, desperation in his eyes.

They shared one quick last glance before Mike swallowed his fear and stepped towards the closet, mouth opening in an effort to protest but it was useless-the door already shut. Mike let out a shaky breath, quickly looking around the tiny.. Enclosed area. Clothes surrounded him of different blues and greens, his breathing picking up as he sank into the closet.

 

The small boy let out a loud scream, kicking and crying out for freedom. A powerless feeling washed over him, two large men in bland white uniforms carried him down the hallway, faces blank and expressionless. They were unphased by Mike’s screaming and squirming to be let go. Over and over again, he cried out for the only man he’s known as a father to help him. Instead, the man stood tall in the middle of the hallway, staring down at the black haired boy sobbing out for help.

Nothing, they did nothing to help him. They never did.

His dark brown eyes widened, a room he was very familiar with coming into view. A dark pine wood colored door left ajar to a dark closet-sized area. Fear welled up, the boy struggling harder and harder to be let go.

“No! No! No!” Mike screeched, tears pricking the corners of his eyes.

He was tossed into the room, barely able to process as the door suddenly slammed behind him. “N-no-!” Mike cried out, the sobs growing harder. He’s tried over and over banging, crying, sobbing out for someone to help him but it was fruitless.. 

No one would come to save him..

They never came. No one ever helped him.

The freckled boy shivered, the darkness almost swallowing him.. He sank into the corner, finding a weak hint of security in the action of pulling his knees towards his chest. The raven-haired boy pressed his face against his pale knees, body wracked with sobs.

Mike Wheeler was, once again, all alone… Left in the dark to die all utterly alone.

 

El had fumbled to explain herself to her mother, she was fumbling and rambling to explain herself. Something about a fever and an upset stomach, praying and hoping her mother would just let it slide. She usually needed proof her daughter was sick otherwise it was right back to school. The young girl was more than surprised when her mother rested her hand on her’s and nodded, “Hey.. Jane, it’s alright, I understand.”

The brunette was suddenly caught off guard, staring back at her mother in slight confusion. “You do?”

Terry nodded back at her child as she offered her a weak smile. “Sweetheart, I know things are hard right now,” she started, a sincere smile leftover on his face. “All of this stuff with Will is just.. It’s all very hard,” The mother let out a little sigh and squeezed her daughter’s hand gently. “Please, just feel like you can talk to me.”

She nodded slowly in response, staring down at Mrs. Ives gentle hand. Her nails were long, covered in a pretty neat yellow polish.. It had just started chipping, it would need a touch up sometime. That would be “mom time”-

“Jane? You understand that you don’t have to hide anything from me right?” Her mother prompted, their dark brown eyes meeting for a moment.

“Yeah, yeah, no, I know what you mean mom-” El nodded once again at her, heart practically stopping at a quiet stomp coming from upstairs. “Oh, that must have been from my room,” she fumbled to get up, “I left my toys out, must have spilled off my desk or something!”

And with that, she was quick to rush upstairs without answering any more of her mother’s questions. Still, the mom didn’t want to press her daughter’s strange behavior.. This all must be very hard to swallow.

She quickly fumbled to open her door, closing it after her. He was already hesitant to get in the closet, what if he had a panic attack or something up there? El would surely feel horrible if she hurt him. “Mike? You okay? Is everything alright?” El scrambled towards the closet, quickly swinging it open.

Sitting down curled up on the floor, the raven-haired boy was struggling with quiet sobs, knees pulled close to his chest. As light flooded the small space, he peered up, eyes widening for a moment. “E-El?”

Immediately, the young girl was hit with pains of guilt at the fear in his voice. “Mike.. Are you okay?” She asked in a gentle tone of voice, kneeled down in the doorway.

A flicker of silence passed between the two of them before he nodded, “I-uh-y-yes..”

El stared back at him, inching a bit closer to be eye level with him. “Are you sure?” She had to double check, her heart almost breaking as she spotted his freckled tear-stained cheeks. “You.. You don’t have to hide anything from me.” It was almost a little weird repeating the words her mother had just told her..

Just like El had said to her mother earlier, Mike simply nodded, repeating a new word he learned only moments ago. “Promise.”

And just like that, the topic was dropped.

 

Once three had rolled around, El awaited Dustin and Lucas to bike over to her house. She was anxious in the first place to let them in, knowing she had promised the two Mike would be gone in the morning. Just as she had suspected, they looked surprised to see the raven-haired boy sitting cross-legged on her bed.

“Are you out of your mind?” Lucas started, shooting a glare back at El.

She crossed her arms square over her chest, ready to argue with him. “Don’t start with your complaining man, he isn’t crazy!”

“We agreed that you’d tell your mom!” He shot back.

El started, “He knows about Will guys!” She fumbled to point over at her photos, “he knew that he is missing, I know he’s connected in some way! After all, we did find him on Mirkwood, remember? I think he really could help us!”

“She does make sense..” Dustin pointed out, glancing over at Lucas.

The young girl nodded, continuing to argue. At least Dustin was starting to take her side here! “I-I think these might be the same people that took Will even! He even said there were these bad people after him! I think he might even know what happened to him!”

“Oh yeah, then why hasn’t he told us where Will is? How do you know he isn’t just messing with you El? Or maybe he is crazy and there wasn’t even anyone after him?” Each of the kids turned to Mike, staring at him with wide eyes. “Do you know where he is?” Lucas asked, over enunciating each word as if he was talking to a small child.

“You don’t have to treat him like a baby-”

“Hey!” Lucas ignored the young girl, resting his hands on the raven-haired boy’s arms. “Do you know where Will is?”

Mike stared, unsure what to say to him. The boy’s harsh words and shouting were frightening him.

“Lucas! Stop it! You’re scaring him!” She stepped forward, reaching out to stop him. There was guilt building up and she didn’t want to see him get upset again.. Or make him cry again, that would crush her. “Please, he doesn’t like being yelled at!” 

“He should be scared! Don’t you get it, he’s probably lying to you!” Lucas shouted back at her, waving his arms a bit.

Sure, she could understand doubting this strange kid but.. There was no reason to yell at him!

“We should have just told your mom about him in the first place!” He pointed out to her.

“No!” El shouted back at him, clenching her fists. “Mike said telling adults would put us and him in danger!”

Dustin looked slightly confused at this, glancing over at her, “When did he tell you his name?”

El nodded in response, shrugging nonchalantly. “Oh yeah, he told me his name last night. Michael but I decided we could just call him Mike for short, he’s actually got this cool tattoo like my mom has, but on his wrist, it’s actually sort of cool! Really, you should see it-”

“Jane Ellie Ives, what kind of danger?” Dustin quickly asked, looking back over at her.

She swallowed thickly, biting down on the bottom of her lip. “Danger, kind of danger..” she spoke up, repeating the action Mike had made earlier with the gun. When she turned over to Lucas, frowning as her hand was slapped away.

“No, no, no!” Lucas shook his head, trying to push his way past the other two. “We’re going right back to the plan, we are going to tell your mom! This is too crazy!” He argued, but the other girl wouldn’t move.

El yelped, being pushed aside. It was nothing she wasn’t used to, not in a bad way or anything, she has always hung out with boys and rough housed just like one. She fumbled, knocking one of her framed photos off the shelf as she fell towards the floor. Her gaze widened for a moment, the picture in front of her just barely floating off the ground.. “Holy… shh..” 

The sound of the door suddenly slamming and locking caught her attention, the photo gently hitting the ground. All of the kid’s gazes suddenly turned back to Mike, their eyes the size of saucers-no, the size of a full moon or something! Of all the things El could have guessed, she never thought Mike had psychic powers..

Dark crimson blood dripped from his nose, narrowing his eyes for a moment at the group. “No.”

 

Dinner was just as awkward as the other night, except this time Dustin and Lucas had joined dinner. Terry was quick to pick up on the awkward vibes, looking around at the children in slight confusion. “My cooking as bad as Jane says, is it?” She joked lightly, taking a bite of the still warm green beans.

“Hm? Oh, no, just had a… a big lunch!” Dustin piped up, waving his hand nonchalantly.

“Oh, me too,” Lucas mumbled, staring down at his food. Really, none of the young kids were in the mood to eat anything.. Not after knowing the fact this strange boy in her basement right now had professor X style mind powers!

Kali cleared her throat after swallowing another bite of her food, throwing on a polite little smile as she picked up another bite, “Well, I think dinner is great,”

_ “Kiss ass” _ , El thought to herself, staring over at her sister. What did she want now?

The teenager waved her fork a bit, “Anyways,” Kali started up, “There’s an assembly at school, for Will that is, Barb is driving..”

“When was that put together?” Terry stared at her daughter skeptically, cutting off another piece of food. Something wasn’t right here and she could tell. “Kali.. We talked about this, I don’t want anyone out after dark..”

“Yeah, no, mom I know.. It’s just..” The raven-haired girl started to pick at the vegetables on her plate uncomfortably. “It would just be really weird if I was the only one who didn’t go, just about everyone is going.”

Mrs. Ives stared down at her food for a moment as she tried to think over an answer. “Oh.. Alright.” She gave in before looking over sternly at her older daughter, “But you will be back by ten o’clock, understand?”

In response, Kali nodded, smiling down faintly at her food.

“Maybe you could take the kids too?” Her mother suggested.

“No!” They each piped up, Dustin slamming his hands on the table. There was no way they could leave right now, El already had plans to sneak out and search for Will with Mike’s powers.. They could definitely use his help.

The older woman quirked a brow at the loud response, “Hey, don’t you kids think you should be there? For Will?” She prompted.

El glanced up, taking a sip of her milk as she tried to formulate her words. It was, first of all, obvious Kali was lying to their mom and second of all, the younger girl already had her own plans for the night. Her heart practically stopped at the sight of a raven-haired boy coming down the stairs. She sputtered, almost choking on her drink.

“Wha?” Her mother started to turn around, suddenly swinging back around when Dustin slammed his hands on the table. She stared wide eyed at the boy, “Are.. You alright there?”

“Spasm.” Dustin shot back quickly, shrugging his shoulders before he sank into his chair. A slight hint of embarrassment graced his face, gaze returning to the food left on his plate while El’s mother thankfully shook off the topic.

 

Mike twisted at the knob and buttons on the old radio, met with quiet little radio static. He looked back up at the stairs when the sounds of kids running downstairs caught his attention, “El?” The freckled boy double checked, relaxing when he saw her leading the group.

She stood there with a little plate of food, lukewarm mashed potatoes, canned green beans, and a few slices of meatloaf on it. In the other hand, she held a little glass of water, just in case he was thirsty too. “Hey there.. I thought you might be hungry,” El spoke up, setting the items down in front of him like an offering. “But uh, no adults right now, just us..”

His gaze went right past El, staring back over at Dustin and Lucas. Mike didn’t write her off as a threat, he remained unsure about those two though.. “Hey, don’t worry about those guys.. You can trust them, I promise.. They won’t tell anyone about you.” She piped up, shooting a momentary glare at the two boys.

“I wouldn’t have upset him in the first place if I knew he had superpowers!” Dustin spoke up with a certain excitement in his eyes, letting out a little laugh, which he was instantly hit for by the brunette. “Ow! El!”

El cleared her throat and turned her attention back to Mike, trying to find a way to put her words into something Mike might understand better. It wasn’t that she was talking down to him, she just knew he must have been a lot more sheltered than she has. “Those two were just.. Scared earlier, we just want to find Will..” She peeked over at Lucas, hoping he could pipe up.

“Yeah,” he started, “All we want to do is find our friend, Will.”

He furrowed a brow, looking over at the other boy, “ ‘Friend’ ?” Mike repeated, another term foreign to him. “What.. What is a friend?”

Lucas shot a look right back at the other two, “Are you.. Is he for real?”

Dustin shrugged in response.

“Okay,” the boy figured if they were going to find Will, they would need to have Mike on their side. Like it or not, he would be a useful ally to help them in finding their friend. “A friend is sort of like..”

“Someone you do anything for!” El piped up, smiling at the other.

“You lend them all of your coolest trading cards and comic books,” Dustin added.

“And-and you never break a promise for them!” She finished explaining, “Friends do stuff like have spit promises, it basically means you can never ever break your word, it’s until the day you die kind of stuff!”

Mike couldn’t help but smile weakly, watching Lucas give an example by spitting into his hand and shaking Dustin’s. Another little laugh came up, watching the curly haired boy make a face, wiping his hand off onto his old white shirt.

“Friends.. Tell each other special stuff,” she hinted at, watching the raven-haired boy grab the class of water to take a sip of it. They met eyes for a moment and she offered him a little smile. “The special kind of stuff we don’t tell lame adults.”

He scarfed down the food and chugged down the water, thinking the whole time of the right way to tell the group about what he knew. Mike swallowed thickly when an idea came to mind, standing up slowly towards a wooden table in the center of the room. The table was currently host to the party’s unfinished D&D game. He tapped his fingers on the edge of it, sitting down slowly. He found himself tuning out the others, his instinct guiding him towards the lone wizard figurine sitting on one of the spaces. He hesitantly picked it up, inspecting it for a moment, “Will..”

Dustin looked the most impressed out of the group, shooting looks between his two friends, “Superpowers..” he murmured, getting an unimpressed glare from Lucas. This stuff was flat out crazy still..

El sat down, asking him some question but Mike tuned it out. Instead, with Will’s figure in one hand, he swept all of the little pieces off of the table and set aside the small boy’s character. He instead he flipped over the board to the black side, slamming Will’s piece onto the center of the board. “Will.. He hiding.” he spoke up boldly, resting both hands on the side of the table.

She inched a bit closer, meeting eyes with the boy, “He’s hiding?..” She asked, sounding curious. Well, Will always was the best at hide and seek in their group.. But that was beside the point. “Is he hiding from the bad men? The ones after you?”

“No..” He shook his head a bit, staring down at the board. Mike stared down at the board, slowly picking up the very familiar Demogorgon piece. He slammed it down onto the board, staring down at the two headed creature. An eerie silence fell among the children as he spoke up, “Monster.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOA FINALLY DONE WITH THIS CHAPTER IT TOOK ETERNITY!! 
> 
> fun fact, my mom does own a garfield collector's cup and she tells me all about how much it could be worth some day. just thought i should bring that up
> 
> sorry this like took so long but it was like thirteen pages and i have been rather busy lately. 
> 
> anyways, thank you very much for supporting and enjoying this story! i hope you enjoyed this hella long chapter!


	3. Home Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The distant sounds of the radio hummed from the back of the room while Mike fidged with each dial on it, mixed in with the chatter were the sounds the party chatting about what the plan was. His focus was more so on the device, curiosity peaked. Although no matter how hard he tried, it was hard to get a clear signal let alone get Will back on the line like he had done when tuning to radios beforehand back at the lab. Mike had very distinct memories of tuning into radios with his powers, but the signal on this was much too weak to get anything unless he focused hard. When he deemed this a pointless endeavor, for now, he tuned back up to the three kids arguing.

The distant sounds of the radio hummed from the back of the room while Mike fidged with each dial on it, mixed in with the chatter were the sounds the party chatting about what the plan was. His focus was more so on the device, curiosity peaked. Although no matter how hard he tried, it was hard to get a clear signal let alone get Will back on the line like he had done when tuning to radios beforehand back at the lab. Mike had very distinct memories of tuning into radios with his powers, but the signal on this was much too weak to get anything unless he focused hard. When he deemed this a pointless endeavor, for now, he tuned back up to the three kids arguing.

El set her hands down on the table, looking back at the other two boys, “Okay.. What if we just tell our parents we have AV club after school?” She suggested, “That way, we might have a few hours to check Mirkwood, see what Mike can find?”

Dustin nodded a bit, “It’ll be better to search in the light anyways, we aren’t finding anything out there in the dark…” He pointed out, sneaking a glance at the skeptical Lucas.

“You actually think he can find Will? Or knows anything about this?” While it annoyed El, Lucas had a reason to be a skeptic. This wasn’t a normal occurrence after all.

She turned back to him, meeting eyes with him, “Lucas, you’ve got to trust me on this, okay? Right now Mike is our best resource.”

He sighed but gave in, nodding with a quiet, “okay.”

“Thank you,” El spoke up, clapping her hands together a bit, “What about supplies, what do you mouth breathers got?”

Lucas was first to place a few items on the table, giving each a mini description. From what Mike could make out, he spotted at least a pair of binoculars, a hammer, and at least a knife. He wasn’t too sure what a “wrist rocket” was, but Dustin seemed to tease Lucas over it.. Maybe you used it for something silly…

He jumped a bit as the boy pulled the rubber band back, the device making a loud snap noise. “Oh..” Mike murmured, realizing it was a shooting device, maybe launches rocks or something. That made sense.

“Okay…” El pressed her hands to her face for a moment before she turned to the curly haired boy now, “What do you have Dustin?”

Shortly afterward, Dustin dumped out his bag of items on the table. From his angle, Mike could make out some sort of orange-colored tube, several different bags of colorful candies and salty snacks, and even a bright yellow banana. Mike stared at the boy as he listed off several items of different brands the freckled boy has never heard of.

“Are you serious?” Lucas asked.

“We have to have stamina!” Dustin pointed out, “Why would we even need weapons? We have a boy who had mind powers! Did you see what he did yesterday?!” While Lucas wasn’t convinced, Dustin was clearly in awe.

“Do you guys even realize the endless possibilities?! I bet he can do so much else!” The lisping boy rushed off towards some of the items in the corner, plucking an old star wars millennium falcon out of a bin. “Here,” He spoke up in an attempt to catch Mike’s attention. “I need you to concentrate.” and without saying anything else, he dropped the toy.

Mike stared at him, narrowing his brows for a moment and the toy clattered to the floor. Did he want him to.. Levitate the toy? Why would Mike do that? It was like a weird command, as if Mike was a trained animal who could just use his powers as a parlor trick or something.. Although it gave him the worst headaches imaginable when he overused them.

He watched as the boy picked it up once again, mumbling something along the lines of “okay, we can try again. Remember to use your powers!” But, Mike just stared at him. Once again, the freckled boy didn’t see the point of it.

“Stop it-!” El paced over to Dustin and snatched the toy from his hands, “He’s not a dog Dustin!”

Just as Mike was about to mutter a thank you or a response, he looked up to hear Mrs. Ive’s familiar voice calling for the kids to head out, “We’re going to be late!” She added, the sound of the woman fumbling towards the door followed.

While both Lucas and Dustin are both rushing to get upstairs, El quickly kneeled down beside Mike. “Okay, so Mike, I’ve got to make this quick. Please, please, please Mike, stay down here. Do not make any noise, and if you’re hungry, eat Dustin’s snacks, plus I’ve got comic books and toys down here if you get bored.” She was rambling a bit, nervous at the idea of Mike being on his own. What if he got caught? What if her mom came down here and found him? What if-

“Jane! We’re leaving!”

“I’m coming!” El shouted, quickly turning back into Mike. Damn it, she had so much to say and not enough time to say it. “Do you know those power lines out back?” She asked him, deciding to describe further for Mike. “The ones behind my house?”

The freckled boy nodded back at her.

“Okay, great, I need you to meet us after school. Alright?” He asked quietly.

He looked quite confused, “Aefter school?” Mike asked in a quiet tone of voice, over-pronouncing each of the words. He’s never been to a ‘school’ before, and in fact, has never heard of one. School was even an odd word if you asked the boy.

“Yeah uh,” The brunette looked around, rushing around to find an old watch sitting on the table. It had been her father’s and that’s all she knew, “Here, that watch can tell the time for you,” she pointed towards the screen, “That one tells the time, and those little buttons are a calculator. I can show you later or maybe you can figure it out while I’m gone,” She offered him a little smile for a moment, “But I digress, meet us when the watch reads, one, five. Okay?”

Mike nodded slowly, rubbing his finger over the digital display on the screen as he watched El quickly grab her bag and rush up the stairs, nearly tripping over her shoelaces. “Mom, I’m ready!” She shouted, shutting the door behind her as she left.

“Three one five…” Mike repeated under his breath, gaze focused on the watch.

_ Three, one, five. _

 

Kali’s entire body was on edge as she paced through the halls of her high school, holding her books close to her chest. Her dark brown jacket was zipped up tight, jeans feeling tight as she paced. Last night was.. Last night was a lot for the teenage girl. It had just been-just been some dumb party.

Yes, even though her mother told her not to, Kali lied and had Barb drive her to a little get together at Steve’s place. Like a jerk, she ditched Barb only to.. Spend some, close time with Harrington. It was something she shouldn’t have done but Kali was on some sort of ‘you can’t tell me what to do’ mindsets she often got into and now that she was thinking straight, was such a bad idea.

The next day and just about everyone was staring at her. Kali could feel their gazes tearing her apart, almost like a million different people were watching her every movement. Almost like she had something other on her face than light makeup. It only made her want to sink into her coat, squeezing the books closer to her chest.

Now she was in full, ‘avoid Steve’ mode. The teenager made her way towards her familiar locker, slowly opening the metal box. Her heart just about stopped, the tall teenager slammed his hands onto her locker, a cheeky smile on his face. “Hey!”

Fuck-

She blinked for a moment, glancing up at him before she returned to her books, “Oh, hey.. What’s up?” The awkwardness in her tone of voice was more apparent than ever.

“Nothing much..” Steve replied, flashing her a toothy grin. While he was chipper as ever, it confused him a bit about as to why Kali seemed so awkward. Was something wrong with her?“You alright?” The brunette asked.

Kali nodded slowly, sliding her math textbook into the locker, “Me? Yeah! I’m good, totally doing great!” She waved her hand a bit as she grabbed a brown messenger bag back out of her locker. It was covered in a few pins and patches she had collected over the years. “I just uh… Is it just me or is everyone staring me?”

For a moment, Steve looked around with a slightly puzzled look.

“You didn’t.. You know?” She asked, meeting eyes with him.

“What? Oh, no!” Steve waved his hand, shaking his head for a moment. “You’re just being paranoid.” He offered her a little smile, reaching out to gently tuck a few strands of her messy black strands behind her ear.

Kali didn’t say anything, matching his smile weakly. “Yeah.. You’re right.” She muttered, just giving in for now.

Steve nodded, “There’s a smile,” he murmured with a little chuckle. “I had a good time last night, just so you know.” he added. Shortly afterward, Steve leaned in and gently pressed his lips to Kali’s for a few moments.

 

Time almost felt frozen and Mike was bored out of his damn mind. Laying scattered across the table were several snacks that had been half-eaten and tried by the boy. Goldfish opened and scattered on the table, a half eaten banana, pringles mixed in the mess with broken bits among the snacks, and other foods Mike seemed to sample.

Since the idea was leftover in his mind from this morning, the freckled boy was busy making the toy Dustin had once tried to get him to levitate earlier, well, levitate. It wasn’t a big action, so he was alright just messing around for a bit. When it also proved to be boring, he let it hit the ground and once again turned his attention to the watch. To his disappointment barely any time had passed, more like a few minutes had slugged by.

“three, one, five.” Mike murmured in a sad tone.

Hesitantly, his gaze drifted over towards the stairs..

The house’s carpet was soft under his feet at the top of the steps, the house deadly silent, leaving all of Mike on edge. Carefully, whole body alert, he paced throughout the home. It was a whole different experience without El telling him about everything. Instead, he was wandering around an empty house all on his own. A part of it was a little scary too.

His first stop was the kitchen, inspecting the room he had seen the other day with El. Now he had a bit more time to look over the room. It was a moderate sized room, creamy yellow walls with simple cream colored counters and appliances, his feet even felt chilly standing on the white tiled floors. Along with that was a little window which hung over the sink with autumn brown curtains.

Mike’s gaze next turned back towards the fridge with all of the drawings and magnets that lined it. Several kids drawings lined the front of it, hung up by different magnets. There were even a few photos and awards pinned to the metal appliance. A little smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he spotted a photo from not so long ago, it was El with her arms around the shoulders of her friends, Will on her right and Dustin on her left. Lucas just barely had her hand on his shoulder as she tried to pull him into the photo too. All of the kids had large smiles plastered on their faces, admittedly making Mike wonder if he could ever be in a photo with them like that..

“Pretty,” he mumbled, turning away from the fridge and decided to move along.

He next moved along to the living room, inspecting the area around him. Much like the rest of the house, there were cream-colored walls and a shaggy brown carpet tickling his toes. A large television sat in the center of the room with a couch, hosting a red shawl on the back of it. A large shelf by the television, host to several photos, awards, different books, and nick nacks. He could even spot a little game system of some sort game system sitting in the cabinet the TV rested on.

Sitting just on the right of the room was a muddy green recliner. It looked almost untouched, Mike noted. Beside the recliner was a wooden bedside table, sporting a large lamp, a few magazines, and a bulky corded phone. He slowly inched towards it, inspecting the lever device on the side of it. “Huh,” he muttered under his breath, attempting to pull it.

Without any warning, the footrest pushed out of the recliner with a loud clang sound and Mike let out a little screech when it came out. He pressed his hand to his heart for a moment, the momentary scare adrenaline bubbled back down and a little laugh escaped the back of his throat. For a few moments, he stared at the chair before scrambling to climb into it. Rocking back and forth, Mike just looked around the living room as he rocked absentmindedly.

When it proved boring, he stood up and paced towards the television. He sat down cross-legged in front of the large box, staring the knobs on the side of it. He reached out towards the knob, the TV flickered to life. He jumped a bit, met with the colorful images of some random show. The people talking back and force proved to be a bit boring, so Mike stared at the knob as he slowly tuned it to another show.

This time he was met with some sort of colorful cartoon, which was much more interesting to the young boy. He slouched down a bit, staring intently at the program. Could Mike tell you what was happening? No, he could not. But did it entertain him enough to catch his attention and have him sit there in awe until the mid-commercial break? Yes, it could.

When the cartoon stopped mid-episode to start a string of commercials, Mike inched back a bit. He swallowed thickly, quirking a brow as one of the ads came on. It was a family silverware and knife set. While the bubbly man went on and on about how this knife could cut through anything, the raven-haired boy was brought back to a memory of the lab which had slipped to the back of his mind throughout all of the chaos.

 

The room was similar to an interrogation room, a bland white tiled room with one dark wooden table and a metal folding chair in front of the table, and only one light hanging overhead. In front of the table was one window, a tall gray-haired man standing cross-armed in front of it.

Sitting down in the center of the room, a thin freckle faced child. His dark faint curls clung to his face, making him the center of attention in the room. He was silent, both hands resting on the top of the table. His big brown eyes looked down towards the fork and spoon sitting on the table.

“Alright, let’s start,” One of the men standing in the corner with a lab coat and a clipboard, glanced towards the gray haired man to receive confirmation.

Once he nodded, Mike’s attention turned towards the silverware. He first chose the spoon, narrowing his eyes as he focused on the utensil. His grip onto the table increased, biting down on his bottom lip, tensing up a bit. The boy tilted his head, the silverware bending backward with his movements. His movements made bending metal like as easy as bending back a pipe cleaner. Heavy breathing started to relax, attention drifting back up at the two men standing before him.

His eyes were wide, a little bit of him hoping to spot some sort of hint he was doing good. Immediately, his hopes were lifted as he spotted a little smile spreading across the taller man’s face. Mike’s celebration, however, was short-lived, a wet feeling gathered under his nose. He blinked, puzzled as he reached up to feel the dripping, staring down at the red liquid staining his fingers.

Everything soon grew dizzy and his head pounded, the next events becoming a blur.

 

Mike let out a shaky breath, staring back at the commercial, the ending jingle ringing in his ears. No, time to move on.

He stood up once again and made his way towards the stairs. Perhaps the upstairs of the house would prove to be more interesting. Mike paced up the steps, staring down the hallway. It was much like the rest of the home, showing at least four different doors. Photos and different paintings were hung on the walls, adding character to the bland walls.

The boy turned towards the first door, deciding he’d check them all one by one.

The door pushed open with ease, a little creak coming from the hinges as it swung open. The walls were a lavender color with stripes, the floors hardwood. All of the furniture was wooden and white, a bed pushed up by the window with nice matching white curtains. Pushed against the other wall was a vanity, host to different makeup and toiletries. Beside it was a closet, several different shirts, and dresses hanging in it. Underneath the shirts was a little mini dresser host to other clothes.. Although Mike didn’t pay it much mind, it felt private to go through her clothes. 

Instead, he sat down at the desk, inspecting the schoolwork left at the desk. It looked like another language to him. Sure, Mike could count, he knew his numbers, but he had no idea why letters and shapes were being merged into it. He shrugged it off, instead choosing to inspect the photos on the desk. He first spotted an old one of the teenage girl looking much younger, holding who he assumed to be a much younger toddler El in her arms. Mike set it aside, picking up another photo of El’s sister standing next to a tall red-headed girl in glasses, they looked rather happy.

He bit down on his bottom lip, turning towards the bookshelf in the corner of the room, picking a book off the self. He brushed his fingers over the cover, just focused on the pictures. It looked interesting, only making the boy wish he could fully understand every word in the text. He’d ask El to translate for him later but he quickly turned down the notion, what if she thought he was dense for not understanding?

A little frown formed on his face and he promptly left the room, deciding he no longer wanted to be in this room.

 

Kali was anxious, setting her tray down on the table with Steve and the others. She was much too worried to eat right now. There was no sign of Barb at school and admittedly, she was worried. The redhead seemed rather mad at her when she left that night. Maybe Kali should have gone after her instead of running off with Steve. She let out a loud sigh, pressing her hands onto her face as she thought about last night. At the same time, why should she be feel bad for Barb being sour about the party? She wasn’t Kali’s mom.

“Hey, Kal, you doing okay there?” Steve broke the girl out of her trance.

She sighed, picking at her salad with her fork, “Oh, uh, you guys seen Barb? She isn’t here today and I’m sort of worried.. She was pretty upset last night.” Kali pointed out, glancing back at Tommy and Carol sitting in front of them. “Hey, either of you guys see her last night?”

The brunette teen in front of her chuckled, “Why are you so worried? She your girlfriend?”

“Shut up Tommy,” She shot back, “I’m serious, did either of you see her or not?”

“No, we didn’t see her,” Carol spoke up, rolling her eyes, “She probably didn’t want to listen to your little roll in the sheets.” The girl smirked back at Kali, making moaning noises as she tilted her head back, “Oh Steve! Oh! Steve-!”

Along with her, Tommy made thrusting motions and moans along with her to drive home the immature joke. Kali felt her face heating up, people around them starting to stare at the other two.

“Will you two shut the hell up?” She shot back snarkily, staring down at her food for a moment before she stood up and started to walk away. Kali needed some air right now, she didn’t need these two assholes resting her nerves.

While Steve yelled for her to come back, sounding upset, she ignored him and continued on towards the courtyard doors.

 

“Are we seriously out here looting around for rocks?” El asked, sighing as she kneeled down to search for the quote on quote ‘perfect’ rock. Lucas wanted to find some proper ammo for the sling, just to be prepared when they set out. “And we’re doing this for a slingshot..?”

“Yeah, El! ‘The wrist rocket’ needs ammo!” Lucas called back, putting emphasis on the weapon’s proper name. He hated it when she pretended the wrist rocket wasn’t a useful tool, it has helped them get a lot of toys out of trees and snag targets when they played outside!

“Whatever, you mean we’re looking for rocks to shoot with a fancy rubber band,” El chuckled, picking up another as she inspected it to see if it was just right.

As the kids searched around for the perfect rocks, Dustin was first to speak up, “Hey, so do you think Mike was born with his powers like the x-men or acquired them like green lantern?” He asked them, plucking up another rock.

Lucas rolled his eyes, picking up another rock. “He’s not a superhero, he’s just weird. As we speak, he’s probably putting on El’s clothes and pretending to be her or something. Like a serial killer.” He muttered.

“S-shut up!” El shot back, crossing her arms. “He’s not a serial killer, he’s just different. People don’t think the x-men are weirdos or murderers!”

“Uh, yeah they do,” The other boy glanced over at El. “Do you have a crush on him or something huh El?” He asked, a little smirk on his face.

She narrowed her eyes, staring back at the other. Although she couldn’t help but feel her face flush hot in embarrassment,  “What’s with that smug look?” El asked him, dropping the rock onto the ground. “I-I do not have a crush on him!”

“Yeah, you do!” He chuckled, “Do you hear the way that you talk to him?” Lucas laughed, grabbing her arms. “Oh, Mike! Do you need help with that Mike? Can I hold that for you? You’re so cool Mike! Mike! Mike! Mike!”

“Shut up Lucas!” She shot back, pushing him off.

“He even looks at you with heart eyes! Just wait until he gets down on one knee and proposes!”

Her face was bright red now, “S-shut up!” Was all she could spit out, rubbing her bright red face. El didn’t have a crush on Mike, that would be weird… Mike was just, really cool.

El glanced up, a frown forming on her face as she spotted Troy and his lackie staggering towards the group. Not now, this is the last thing she needed right now. “Hey look, the losers are back here looking for their missing friend huh?”

“Don’t say that,” She spoke up, narrowing her eyes up at the two taller kids. Unlike Dustin and Lucas, El could be more snippy or fight back more. She was a tomboy at heart and didn’t like backing down to these jerks. “Will could be in danger.”

Troy rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest, “Hate to break it to you raggedy Anne, but my dad says he’s dead.”

“Probably got killed by some other queer.” the other added, earning a chuckle from Troy.

Before she could shoot something back, El felt Lucas’ hand on her shoulder, “El, don’t be rash.. Just, ignore those guys.” He murmured, playing the voice of reason. There was no need to start a fight right now.

She swallowed her pride, deciding to just walk away from the situation. As she tried to step past the boys, the girl was tripped and hit the ground hard. Her chin slammed into a rock, pain ringing from her chin and jaw immediately.

While the bullies walked away, all chuckles, Lucas and Dustin were both rushing to her side. Her anger boiled down as Dustin handed her the rock her chin slammed onto, asking if this was the perfect rock. While the kids all shared a few jokes, her pain subsided and a weak smile graced her face.

 

Kali caved shortly after she left, stopping by the school’s payphone to slide in a quarter and ring Barb’s mother. Perhaps she just stayed home sick today, upset about last night or feeling ill. Her hopes were crushed however when her mother said she didn’t home. She was still under the impression her daughter had stayed at Kali’s house, leaving goosebumps trailing up her arms.

She looked up, spotting the usual gang gathered over by the other Byers boy. Her curiosity was peaked.

Kali made her way over towards the group, glancing around at the other, “What are you guys doing?” 

“There she is,” Carol spoke up, holding back a glare at the other girl about earlier, “Can you believe this guy was creeping on us earlier?” She scoffed as Steve handed Kali a black and white photograph.

“Bet he was going to keep that one, for his private time,” he muttered as she gazed down at the photograph. Staring her in the face was a black and white photo of Steve’s backyard, his bedroom window showing the girl with her back turned, unclipping her bra. Kali gripped the photo tighter, staring down at it.

While Steve was mumbling something about Jonathan being a pervert, she was just in disbelief. This was not a reminder she needed right now either. It left her on edge just thinking he was watching them.

The two stood there, Kali watching him scramble to pick up the ripped photos and pieces of the broken camera. For a moment, she debated yelling at him until she spotted one of the ripped up photographs. Sitting on the diving board was a familiar face, Barb.

 

“Three, one, five,” Mike repeated, staring at the watch as he paced towards the powerlines. Over and over again, he repeated it to himself. “Three, one, five.” Admittedly, it was a bit calming to read it over and over to himself, reminding himself it would be okay. El would be here soon, she would be there to tell him all about her day at ‘school’ while they walked. “Three, one, five-”

A small ribbit came from the ground. Sitting down in a little puddle gathering by the fence was a leaf green frog, it’s big brown and black eyes staring up at Mike. A part of him saw innocence in those eyes, staring up at him in a lost dazed sort of way.

 

Staring back at him were the big brown eyes, the frog making little ribbet noises every moment or so. It sat in a single glass tank, staring Mike down. When he thought about it, the frog and him had a lot in common. He felt caged too. Sometimes Mike felt like he was trapped in a little glass box too, “me too…” he murmured, sitting up a bit.

He found himself sympathizing with the creature more and more, staring down at it. Over and over again, he tried to tell himself it was just a frog but hurting it only felt like he was hurting a part of himself. Shakily, he took a breath and tried to focus.

Focus, focus Michael.. He’ll be mad if he doesn’t do this-

Still, the more Mike tried to focus, the more he came closer to crying. His bottom lip quivered, tears welling up in his brown eyes. “No,” he whispered, the idea of this test sending shivers down his spine. He couldn’t kill it, it would be like killing a part of himself. “No!” The freckled boy screamed louder, heart racing.

“No! No! No!” He shouted rather loudly, turning to face the man he knew as his ‘father’. “No!”

Mike found himself was back to a familiar scene. Kicking and screaming, the orderlies carrying him down the bland hallways. His throat ached, screaming and crying for someone to listen. Mike hit the ground, fumbling to get back up. No, not this time, he wasn’t being helpless this time. He didn’t want to be in his cage anymore.

The door slammed open, one man hitting the tiled wall in front of them, the other feeling the wooden door’s knob slam against his chest. It hit him hard against the wall, both men slumping onto the floor in a heap.

He was panting, hands trembling as he sat down in his spot. Mike could barely move, a numbness resonating throughout his body. All he could hear was ringing in both ears, the warm feeling of liquid trickled down his philtrum and lingered just above his lip. It dripped down the side of his face from both ears, mixing into his dark black hair.

Standing in the doorway, the gray-haired man cast a shadow onto the boy. His dark brown eyes trailed up towards the other, breathing shakily. “Please.. No more..” He murmured in a quiet voice, begging, pleading not to be left in here.

He never spoke, Mike has never heard him utter a word. A pair of large calloused hands reached out to brush his black bangs out of his eyes. Perhaps it was just the shadows messing with Mike’s eyes but he could almost see a smile on the man’s face as his head was cupped in both hands. He ignored the boy’s quiet sobs, murmuring one quiet word:

Incredible.

Mike felt the tears come down harder, his limp body hoisted into the man’s arms. They walked the hall, his gaze numbly focused on the overhead lights. “No…”

 

“Mike! Mike, we’re back!”

He snapped to attention, the group wheeling over to him. El stopped her bike only a few inches away from him, a familiar large grin plastered on her face. He was glad, happy to see her again. The freckled boy peeked down at the watch again, tapping the screen, “Three, two, five.” He pointed out.

A little giggle escaped her, “Mike, you can’t expect me to get here exactly at three fifteen! I can only bike so fast, and besides, Dustin and Lucas always slow me down.” she murmured with a little chuckle, started to climb back onto the bike. “Come on time master, we’ve only got a few hours before dark.”

Mike climbed on, a little smile gracing his face as he slid his arms around her waist. As they pressed off, he watched the area around them, relaxing his nerves a bit more. Somehow, the cool breeze and quiet chirping of birds was enough to calm him and let him zone out for the ride.

They rode for a while before everyone hopped off their bikes, starting to walk. Mike looked around a bit, gaze momentarily focusing on a mark on El’s chin. “You okay?” He asked, pointing towards her chin.

“Hm?” She looked confused, a frown spreading across her face. “Oh yeah, that thing..” El scratched the back of her head, unsure what to say. “I just, I fell at recess today.. Troy tripped me.” She admitted quietly.

He returned a frown back to her, the idea leaving him saddened. He didn’t like the idea of anyone hurting El, a part of him hoped he could’ve been there to protect her. “Troy?”

“Yeah! He’s this mouth breather from school!” She replied.

His frown soon started to turn into a little smile, quirking a brow at the unfamiliar word, “mouth breather?”

“You’ve never heard of that?” She asked him, giggle bubbling up, “It’s like a dumb person! A knucklehead! He’s just,” the young girl waved her hand. “He’s a big jerk with the brain the size of a pea, trust me.”

Mike chuckled, nodding a bit, “mouth breather..” he repeated the term to himself.

She sighed as she kept walking. Mike was a good listener and El had the habit to ramble, so she kept talking. “You shouldn’t worry about him, he’s just a jerk.. You don’t have to sit around worrying about me, that’d drive me crazy!”

“I am crazy,” he replied with a little smile.

“Crazy awesome,” El replied, nudging Mike. She didn’t want Mike to believe he wasn’t important, he was amazing! He had crazy cool powers, he was nice, and he was smarter than people took him for. 

As the group walked, Mike and El kept talking, sharing jokes, asking each other about their days. The whole time, Dustin and Lucas shot each other looks. It was like listening to a married couple talk. How could she not see how crazy she was for Mike, and how utterly head over heels he was for her? Anyone with half a brain could read the mood.

 

Night had fallen over the town when the children were approaching a destination. Leaves rustled, bikes being drug over sticks and leaves. Mike stopped, staring out at the house in front of him. He held out both of his arms, nodding. Yes, this was right, this was the place. He could sense it.

“Here,” This is where Will is, this is where he was hiding.

“No.. This is..” She frowned slightly, “Will lives here.”

Lucas groaned, throwing his bike onto the ground beside the two. “What are we doing here?”

“Hiding, hiding here,” There was a little smile on his face, he was proud of himself, as if he has made some big breakthrough in their search. Admittedly, El couldn’t be mad at that face. Maybe Mike knew something she didn’t..?

“No, Mike,” She sighed, “Will is missing from here, understand?”

“We walked out here for nothing..” Lucas muttered, shooting a glare over at the black haired boy.

Dustin frowned, confidence in Mike’s ‘superpowers’ wavering. “Are you saying we walked all the way out here for nothing?”

El quickly piped up, not wanting her friends to gang up on Mike. Maybe this was a communication error.. Mike wasn’t an idiot, he wouldn’t lead them out here for nothing.. “No we didn’t, he might know something-”

“No El! He doesn’t!” Lucas shot back, raising his voice. “I don’t you, he didn’t know what the hell he was talking about! He probably barely understands you!”

“Stop yelling at him!” She turned towards the other, trying to keep a leveled head. “Mike, why did you bring us here?”

Mike swallowed thickly, clenching his fists. Words wouldn’t come out, instead, he stuttered, unable to force his thoughts out. He could see it, see the pure disappointment on her face. He let her down, he hurt her.

“See what I mean, don’t waste your time with him El, we’ve already wasted a day doing this.” He sighed, glancing at her. “We should have just called the cops in the first place like I wanted to.”

“How come all you want to do is send him away!?” She hissed back.

“Because we’ve wasted so much time giving him second chances! Because you believe in him! You have a crush or something on him and you don’t want to send him away because of it!”

Her anger wavered, a mixture of embarrassment spreading across her face. El clenched her fists, face hot, at a loss for words. Before she could open her mouth to tell him to shut up, she was surprised by Mike’s voice behind her.

“D-don’t yell at her.”

Before Lucas could snap himself out of shock and speak up again, Dustin was shouting. He was pointing and shouting, directing their attention to the street. Sirens were blaring, lights flashing, several police cars rushing down the street. El’s heart dropped, Will. It had to be Will.

The group stopped behind the cluster of cars, ditching their mikes by the ambulance as they watched the scene from afar. For a minute, she could have sworn her heart stopped. Being pulled out of the muck in the water, a small floating body.

“N-no..” She had no words, spotting his familiar red and yellow coat.

Lucas was speaking but El couldn’t hear him. She could barely think, backing up slowly from the sight. She didn’t want to believe it, she didn’t want to believe that was Will. “No…” the brunette murmured, eyes widening.

Mike frowned, attempting to rest his hand on her shoulder. “El?..”

She didn’t say anything, pushing him back. “What? What is it, Mike?!” She raised her voice, hopes crushed. El believed in him, El trusted Mike. He was going to help them find Will-find him alive! “What do you want now?!”

The freckled boy retracted his hand, stammering to speak.

“You were supposed to find him! Alive Michael! Alive! Do you even understand what that means?!” How could she have kept defending him when he was lying to her? Why did he get her hopes up like this? Only to be let down again and again! “I trusted you Mike!”

He could barely speak, only staring at her. Mike backed up, struggling with the feeling that he was about to cry. Not now, not in front of her. 

El didn’t let up, she was angry at him for lying, she was upset about Will, she was disappointed in herself for believing Mike could even help in the first place. “What’s wrong with you?!” She hissed over and over, struggling with tears.

Mike stood there, frozen, watching her pick up her bike and start to hop on it. “I…” He couldn’t speak, silent tears trailing down his cheeks. The only thing he could process were El’s words, echoing over and over in his head. What was wrong with him?

“I… Sorry…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, here's just a few notes from the chapter. When writing, I've been taking note of the suggestions and comments I get on the previous chapters, so thank you very much for your impute!
> 
> Here's a little list of like chapter notes i guess?? so that my notes aren't so boxy & rambly:  
> -Ah, first things first, when Mike over pronounces after btw was on purpose  
> -Mike will be keeping that watch because i think it's cute that he keeps it cause El gave him a gift  
> -After reading some comments of people who like the au/story, i decided to sprinkle in some Kali scenes (since I wanted to start building her part of the story?? cause originally i just wanted to do the kids stuff but people were mentioning how they wanted to see her more and i said fuck it, why not? i am torn on if I'm team Kali and Jonathan or team Kali and Steve for sure. someone actually suggested that she should get together with Steve and I'm really leaning towards having her and him together by like season 2 era?? i'm not sure)  
> -I changed some of the el flashback hawkins lab stuff cause i was rereading chapter 2 and i wanted to tailor them to make them sorta different?? (even though I know they aren't that crazy) but I wanted to make some smaller changes to make them more Mike like. Have my baby boy sorta build his character in his own way??  
> -If anyone has any good suggestions for insults/nicknames troy to use for El, (since i was at a loss during this chapter) please send em to me  
> -I made the test with eleven/the cat a frog for mike cause haha frog face. it made me laugh.. (im sorry it was like really late at night)
> 
>  
> 
> Very sorry if some of this stuff doesn't make sense, I write as I go and this whole fic is sort of experiential in itself! Everything up until published/posted is subject to changes, so if you have any cool suggestions/ideas, hit me with em! This whole fic is really to just build the AU


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